Madison Capitol Trip to visit Christine

Waaaayyy back in September we woke up really early on a Saturday morning to take a trip to the Madison Farmer's Market and visit our good friend Christine.

 Little Stella in her bright blue jump suit...so I don't lose her!

 Farmer's Market with Christine! (photo by Reeve)

 The kids always love to find the fossils in the Capitol steps...if you look closely you can see a starfish!

 Senators Reeve and Kyle Raye please cast your vote!

 It's the Badger State!

 Up on the Capitol Building Terrace looking out at Lake Monona.

 Solar electric panels on the Capitol! Yay!!

 This was before I got a haircut...man I'm looking kinda tired and windy-haired!

 Kyle, what a ham!

 Poor Stella's holding one of her favorite little baby dolls...she lost that baby here at the Monona Terrace...never to be seen by her again!

 Awwww...Stella looking up at her big brother Kyle...Madison Capitol building in the background.

Butterfly & Kraut

Cooler mornings means Laura wants to stay in bed longer and knit, knit, knit. THAT means that it's not as easy for me to get up and post my morning blog pictures.
I found some pictures from (gasp!) September. A lot were from a trip we took to the Madison Capitol. I'll try to post those tomorrow.
This was a butterfly that Kyle actually found outside...just hatched from it's chrysallis.

 I made some raw fermented sauerkraut. We actually waited one week before trying the first jar. By the fourth week, it was really yummy. Now it is all gone. I had to pound the heck out of it for 10 minutes, so I'm not too excited about working up my courage to make some more. Somebody piss me off, so I have some inspiration :)

 Stella...correcting Kyle's homework.

Felted Clogs

I've been obsessed with keeping our feet warm. I had such fun knitting Reeve's clogs that in about a week I finished a pair for Kyle, and in about one day I finished a pair for Stella. Who's next? Seriously! Send me your shoe size :)

 Here I'm knitting on the second sole to the clog. You start out by knitting the sole, then the body of the clog, then the cuff, and then you knit a second sole and attach it (via knitting) to the first sole.

 Then, with a tapestry needle you sew the seams together and then sew the soles together.

 Below, Tommy took a picture of me knitting Stella's little bootie.

 Before felting it's HUGE. I'm holding it up to her foot in the pic below.

 Big bootie!

 Before felting:

 After the 1st 10 minutes of agitation in the washer:

 After the first 15 minutes of agitation in the washer:

 After about 40 minutes of agitation. Kyle's were done and Stella's needed about 10 more minutes.

 Kyle wearing his wet clogs to mold them to his feet...and to make sure they are the right size and will fit.

 Wet clogs!

 Below: Kyle's wet clogs, Stella's wet booties, and Reeve's finished dry clogs.

 Stella's booties! SO. SWEET!